And he talked about what it was going to take for the Celtics to win another title with this group next season.

“We’ve not been up to par in terms of winning the championship but we’ve been in every round in every fight,” says Rondo. “There are a few things we have to do – obviously stopping LeBron. But that’s easier said than done. We’ve got to do a better job of team rebounding, keeping guys out of the paint. That’s not just when playing Miami but overall. We got to get better rebounding and defensively.”

Three things to do for the Celtics to win a title. Let’s look at them.

First, stopping — or at least slowing and containing — LeBron James is the task for 29 teams that want to knock off the Heat as champions. As Rondo said, no easy task, but it is hurdle to clear in the NBA now whether you are in Boston, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City or anywhere else. So, we’ll give Rondo a checkmark there for being right.

Second, better defense — no, that’s not the problem. The Celtics had the second best defense in the defense in the league last year giving up 95.5 points per 100 possessions, — 6.2 points per 100 fewer than the league average. They held teams to the second lowest shooting percentage against and they forced a lot of turnovers. Their defensive rating was actually better than the year they won the NBA title

The problem for the Celtics was their pedestrian offensive numbers that were 24th in the NBA at 89.9 points per 100 possessions. If Boston wants to win more, if it wants a title, it needs to score more. That should come with the addition of Jason Terry off the bench and bringing back a healthy Jeff Green. There should be more scoring off the bench. But the end of the floor the Celtics need to improve is when they have the ball.

Third, rebounding — Rondo’s right there. Boston grabbed 19.7 percent of their missed sots last season, the worst offensive rebounding percentage in the league. Offensive rebounds are often easy putback points, at the least they are a second chance. On the other end, Celtics opponents got the offensive board on 27.6 percent of their misses (above the league average).

Boston is going small this year and it is the smart way for them to win, it should help the offense and with Kevin Garnett out there the defense shouldn’t falter. But they have to crash the boards like beasts this season. For Boston, Pat Riley’s “rebounds = rings” mantra is accurate.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans say rookie guard Frank Jackson won’t make his NBA debut this season after having follow-up surgery to remove residual scar tissue from earlier right foot operations.

The Pelicans say Jackson also received an injection in his foot.

The club says a specialist in New York handled Jackson’s latest procedure.

The Pelicans acquired the 6-foot-4 Jackson through a draft-night trade with the Charlotte Hornets, who selected the former Duke player with the first pick of the second round last summer.

Following the draft, the Pelicans signed Jackson to a three-year contract at the NBA minimum with two years guaranteed, but Jackson needed a second foot surgery last summer to address a setback following his initial surgery last May.

Anyone who watched the Thunder’s win over the Raptors Sunday afternoon in Toronto — especially the final few minutes — thought it was not referee Marc Davis and crew’s finest hour. There were missed calls and three-straight ejections of Raptors players, which all seemed rather hair-trigger (especially coach Dwane Casey, who was tossed for something a fan behind him said).

According to the report, there was only one missed call in the final two minutes: Carmelo Anthony held Pascal Siakam as a pass came to him with 11.7 seconds left, and that should have been called.

What about the play that set DeMar DeRozan off and ultimately got him ejected, the drive to the basket with 33 seconds left (and the Raptors down two) where DeRozan thought Corey Brewer fouled him? The report said that was a good no call:

DeRozan (TOR) starts his drive and Brewer (OKC) moves laterally in his path and there is contact. The contact is incidental as both players attempt to perform normal basketball moves….

RHH shows Brewer (OKC) make contact with the ball and the part of DeRozan’s (TOR) hand that is on the ball. The hand is considered “part of the ball” when it is in contact with the ball and therefore, contact on that part of the hand by a defender while it is in contact with the ball is not illegal.

(I didn’t see it that way, I think the contact was more than incidental, and to me looking at the replay Brewer catches some wrist and impedes the shot in a way that was not legal. Just my two cents.)

The report does not cover the ejections, which are reviewed by league operations but not part of this report.

Three thoughts out of all this:

1) Raptors fans/management/players have every right to feel the calls went against them in this game. As for calls always going against them — as DeRozan complained about after the game — 29 other teams and fan bases are convinced the officials have it out for them, too. I never bought that.

2) The Raptors didn’t lose this game solely because of the officiating. Russell Westbrook was clutch down the stretch, the Thunder were part of it, and the Raptors had other issues, too (Serge Ibaka had a rough game, for example).

3) This loss also does not say a thing about the Raptors in the postseason (even if they went a little too much isolation at the end) — this was their third game in four days, they looked tired and flat at the end. That will not be the case in the playoffs.

Butler is chomping at the bit to return from his knee injury. He sat on the Timberwolves’ bench during their loss to the Rockets last night wearing what appeared to be typical attire for a sidelined player. But dig deeper, and…

Marc Stein of The New York Times:

There's only one @JimmyButler (Exhibit Infinity): Butler sat on the Wolves' bench last night for the first time since his recent injury and word is he wore a distinctly Jimmy item under his blazer and t-shirt … his game jersey